To the strains of the Beatles’ “Come Together” and the theme to “2001 – A Space Odyssey” AMT announced its merger with the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association under the AMT banner – albeit with a new association logo. The announcement was made at the 2012 MFG meeting in Orlando on Thursday.

“It gives us a lot more,” said AMT president and CEO Doug Woods. “It provides us a much larger group of manufacturers, and gives us capabilities with products and services, with double the number of people. It gives us a very cohesive, powerful force.” Association officials said the merger provides:

Strengthened and expanded products and services;

Access to powerful business intelligence systems;

Data and information from industry economists and analysts;

A focus on the priorities and needs of the industry;

Networking and collaboration through expanded membership; and

Education and “smartforce” development.

“This merger is a logical evolution for the manufacturing technology industry,” said AMTDA chairman Steve M. Wherry. “We are uniting the entire manufacturing technology supply chain from engineering and building machines, to integrating automation and support, to distribution services, which will well serve the users of manufacturing technology for their future.”

“This move exponentially increases member benefits and services to both organizations. We are now a stronger, more complete organization, representing the entire value chain of the manufacturing technology industry,” added Eugene R. Haffely, Jr., chairman of AMT. “Most important, this will give our industry a more clarified and unified voice.” Both boards of directors voted unanimously for the merger, and an unprecedented percentage of the combined membership participated in the vote to approve the move.

“It has always been our goal to find better ways to serve the manufacturing industry,” said Woods. “This process, upon which we embarked two years ago, is a natural partnership that will help both organizations as we seek to advance manufacturing in the United States.”

Annual Salary Survey

Before the calendar turned, 2016 already had the makings of a pivotal year for manufacturing, and for the world.

There were the big events for the year, including the United States as Partner Country at Hannover Messe in April and the 2016 International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago in September. There's also the matter of the U.S. presidential elections in November, which promise to shape policy in manufacturing for years to come.

But the year started with global economic turmoil, as a slowdown in Chinese manufacturing triggered a worldwide stock hiccup that sent values plummeting. The continued plunge in world oil prices has resulted in a slowdown in exploration and, by extension, the manufacture of exploration equipment.